At $1.5 Million a Day, Health Sector Lobbying Far Outpaces Oil & Gas

By Dan Eggen
The health sector continued its breakneck lobbying efforts during the 2nd quarter of 2009, spending money at the rate of nearly $1.5 million a day as it attempted to shape landmark reform legislation to its advantage, according to new data released today.

The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that tracks money in politics, also calculated that the oil and gas industry spent $38 million on lobbying from May to June, as controversial cap-and-trade legislation was under consideration in the House. The number represents a 30 percent increase from the year before, with Chevron, ConocoPhillips and American Electric Power leading the pack.

But the biggest spenders in Washington were the drugmakers, hospitals and other health-care firms that are fighting to influence reform legislation being pushed by President Obama. The sector as a whole reported spending $133 million on lobbying from April to June, up slightly from its expenditures in the first quarter of the year. More than half the total was spent by the drug industry, including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group (PhRMA) and firms such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline.

Many firms have increased their lobbying compared to a year ago, in some cases dramatically, the data show. Pfizer nearly doubled its spending from the second quarter 2008, to $5.6 million, while Blue Cross/Blue Shield, PhRMA, Eli Lilly and others were also up significantly. One North Carolina firm, Talecris Biotherapeutics, increased its quarterly spending from just $20,000 last year to $1.64 million this time.

The health sector calculation does not include most major insurance companies, which have spent $81 million on lobbying so far this year and are counted by CRP as part of the financial sector. That means that added together, the health sector and insurance industry are spending well over $2 million a day on lobbying.

Lobbying in all areas rose to $814 million from April to June, bringing the six-month total to more than $1.6 billion across all industries and interest groups. That total is about the same as it was in the first half of 2008, despite a plethora of major bills moving through Congress.

The new data is available on CRP's website at www.opensecrets.org.